Wendy Fresh & Jessica Bernards

Wendy Fresh & Jessica Bernards
Portland Community College
Website

Specialization: Math

Jessica Bernards and Wendy Fresh have been teaching mathematics at both the college and high school level since 2005 and 1990, respectively. Currently they are both full-time tenured professors at Portland Community College. They have taught a wide range of mathematics courses from arithmetic up through Calculus, not only on campus but in hybrid courses and online courses as well.

Jessica has created mathematics curriculum for Washington’s K-12 system, Pearson Education, McGraw-Hill Education, and Portland Community College. While teaching high school in the Vancouver Public School K-12 system (2005-2010), Jessica led the efforts to reform the math curriculum and pedagogy for the district.

Wendy has created curriculum for Pearson Education, Cengage, and Portland Community College. She was also elected to be a member of the Hillsboro K-12 School District’s Curriculum Committee and has participated in reform for Oregon’s K-12 system.

Both Jessica and Wendy are members of AMATYC (American Mathematics Association of Two Year Colleges), with Jessica also a member of AMATYC’s Project ACCESS Cohort 9. In this cohort, Jessica developed a study skills program specifically related to mathematics. This program is now used at more than 30 colleges and high schools nationwide, and significant data from those schools has shown that students who use the program have higher rates of success and retention. Jessica received the national Leila and Simon Peskoff award for her work in this area.

One of the most notable strategies that Jessica and Wendy have embraced is the flipped model of instruction. Expanding on the traditional “flip”, they created an enhanced version that they call the “Flipped+” model. This new model has gained recognition because of the documented improvement in student pass rates. Feature stories on this improvement have been highlighted on Portland Community College’s website and several news stations including KGW 8 News and FOX12 Oregon. 

Jessica and Wendy have given numerous national presentations, webinars, and keynote addresses, including their well-known talk over Grit and a Growth Mindset in Mathematics. They are passionate about student success and believe that “anyone can be a math person.” For more information on Jessica and Wendy, visit their website at www.anyonecanbeamathperson.com.

Areas of Expertise

1. Grit and Growth Mindset in Mathematics 

2. Study skills specifically for math classes)

3. The Flipped+ Model we created (this could also be a larger course including trainings, etc)